{City of Coral Springs}
By Bryan Boggiano
The pilot program that eased restrictions on recreational parking came under criticism at the Coral Springs city commission’s workshop on July 27, saying it “created confusion.”
The criticism came in response to an update that Julie Krolak, Director of Development Services, gave to the commission almost six months after they unanimously passed the pilot program, which allows recreational vehicles to be parked in residential area driveways on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. and Fridays at 9 p.m. until Sunday at 9 p.m., and Mondays until 9 p.m. on Federal holidays.
Initially, residents could not park these vehicles on or next to their properties any time from Monday through Saturday between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sundays were forbidden.
Since the commission approved the pilot program, the city worked with code compliance and police to educate residents.
But, Krolak noted that violations continued, although violations fell from 65 in February to 35 in July.
Commissioner Shawn Cerra said that while he was initially open-minded to the pilot program, he would be the first to speak out if he believed that the program was ineffective.
At Wednesday’s meeting, he called for the program to be repealed, saying that it would be a mistake for it to continue until February 2023.
“This is not the direction I feel the city needs to go in any further,” Cerra said.
Vice Mayor Joshua Simmons echoed Commissioner Cerra’s sentiments, saying that the recreational vehicle pilot program created confusion.
“I think…too many people are reading this pilot program in a way where residents believe that recreational vehicles can now be parked at their homes every day of the week,” he said.
Simmons said he initially supported the program because he believed that residents would understand the details and that the city was giving residents time to enjoy their weekends with their vehicles.
He also agreed with Cerra that the longer the city lets the program continue, the more that residents will get comfortable with incorrectly following the pilot program’s rules.
Commissioners Joy Carter and Nancy Metayer did not support an immediate repeal of the pilot program, but they did want to hear more residential input.
Mayor Scott Brook said he also wants to hear more public input and allow the public to be heard at future meetings. At the meeting, he recommended that the commission keep the program until February 2023 as originally voted on.
He suggested that if the public input is negative, he would support shutting the program down.
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